Pakistani Consul General in Houston Aisha Farooqui visited Dr Aafia Siddiqui in Texas prison and rejected the death rumours circulating on social media about the imprisoned scientist.
Farooqui met the Pakistani scientist at Carswell detention facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The meeting, which lasted about two hours, was the fourth in 14 months, the consul general said.
Reports circulating earlier on social media suggested that Dr Aafia had passed away in US captivity.
Rejecting all rumours, Farooqui said the reports making rounds on social media were baseless.
Dr Aafia was indicted by a New York federal district court in September 2008 on charges of attempted murder and assault stemming from an incident in an interview with US authorities in Ghazni. She, however, had denied the charges.
After 18 months in detention, she was tried and convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 86 years in prison.
Responding to rumours about her death, Dr Aafia’s sister Dr Fauzia earlier this week said that they had not been told anything in this regard by the government of Pakistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the US prison officials.
Dr Fauzia said that they had not been in contact with Dr Aafia for the past two years, adding that despite countless efforts, they could not find an answer to their queries from either Pakistani or US officials.
Published in Daily Times, May 25th 2018.
